The Teacher and His Student
by PurpleyPlatypus
Summary: When new teacher Mr E. Cullen joins Allen Poe High, student Bella Swan is sure that his ultimate goal is to make her life living hell. BellaxEdward
1. Chapter 1

The Teacher and His Student

**Chapter 1 - First Impressions**

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Bella had never had a problem with tests. She had the ability to retain large amounts of information with very little effort on her part, and besides she found school _interesting_. She liked to learn, and would much rather stay in curled up with a good book in front of a warm fire than take to the wild clubs with her other friends. Bella was an academic, and seeing as she was a scholarship student and so really couldn't afford to be anything else, this was a good thing. Because although her friends could afford to be lackadaisical in their approach to schoolwork, assured that even if they didn't make the grades then mummy and daddy could probably buy them into an Ivy anyway, Bella didn't have that luxury. She had neither the money nor the legacy.

Not that she _needed _that luxury. Although she lacked the funds necessary to enable her to buy the designer clothes so many of her peers owned, and although she probably had nowhere near their alcohol tolerance levels, in some ways, the scholastic ways at least, Bella was more suited to Allen Poe High. She was headed for great things, and all she had to do was complete her final year with a near perfect GPA; something that this test couldn't possibly mess up.

While all of her friends were still frantically scribbling down answers (she heard a bang that she was almost certain represented Mike Newton slamming his head against the desk in vain) Bella sat back and relaxed. She had already covered all the material on the test, and the calculations provided her with little difficulty. Bella had finished within the first forty-five minutes, and as such was left with half the allotted time to sit and stare into space should she so wish.

Bella didn't so wish however, because it was much more interesting to stare at their new teacher, Mr E. Cullen.

He had sprung a test on them during their first lesson, an action Bella would be tempted to assume represented inexperience and a wish to try and ease himself into the job. It was after all daunting to get up and speak to twenty over privileged seniors, a test offered the perfect bypass to that, as well as giving the heads up on any problem areas.

But although he was young (if Bella had to guess she would say early twenties) there was something about the way he held himself that conveyed his complete and utter confidence. As if this was a man who knew exactly what he was doing and who was fully ready to take on any would be troublemakers. She doubted any of those troublemakers would be female. Because Mr Cullen was incredibly handsome.

His copper hair was perfectly styled into a messy I-got-out-of-bed-half-an-hour-late look, and locks of it fell over crystal clear grey eyes. His face was angular, manly, but held a certain boyish charm that was set alight by the way his eyes sparkled, all of which was complimented by the expensive, no doubt designer suit that he wore. He sat at the front of the class fully engrossed in the book he was reading, "_Wuthering Heights." _He made no attempt to hide this fact, perhaps silently daring anyone to challenge his apparent like of classic romance.

He was certainly an oddity. Bella's last physics teacher had thought Bronte was an insult. Classical literature and physics just didn't go together, something that had been drummed into her head by the headmaster for roughly three years now.

She _did _feel slightly sorry for him though. His captivation with the book meant that he was oblivious to the quite frankly blatantly obvious cheating that was occurring around her. A good proportion of the class had their phones out, and the others were making no attempt to hide looking at the papers of their neighbours. He was probably planning his lessons based on the weaknesses and strengths that his students showed during this test, and if they all copied off of each other then whatever he planned would be useless.

"Time's up," Mr Cullen told them, snapping his book closed and placing it on the desk in front of him. "Pens down and then pass your tests to the front please."

Bella turned round to take the pile of test papers from Angela, the girl sitting behind her.

"I'll see you all tomorrow." He nodded towards the class. "Except for you."

Bella froze.

"I'll see you in my office at two sharp."

She looked up to find Mr Cullen's face, which was marred with a frown, icy eyes fixed upon her. The whispers and stares of her classmates immediately made her flush in anger. She hadn't done anything wrong, in fact she'd been the only one not to cheat in her test, and here she was being frowned at and called out in front of the whole class.

"Could I ask what _for, _sir."

"No," he replied simply, as the bell signalling that it was time for her English Literature lesson rang.

She stomped out of the classroom fuming, listening to her classmates' alternate lamentations about how the test was impossibly hard and didn't have any real life applications. This only angered her further, because she _knew _that she had done well on the test, and by the sounds of it was the sole pupil in her class.

He was probably trying to stamp his authority down. It was a pitiful tactic that all new teachers seemed to employ in an attempt to secure future good behaviour. Bella had chosen a seat at the front of the class and this is probably why he had picked on her. Better to make an example of a student who was obviously not a troublemaker, than be too ambitious and take on someone who was well versed in public confrontation with authority figures. He obviously wanted a success story.

She arrived first to her English class and picked a seat at the back, hopefully then in the event of another new teacher she would be perceived as badass enough to ensure that they would think twice before attempting to make an example of her.

"We're sitting at the back now?" Angela asked in confusion.

Bella simply sat there and seethed in response.

"Why do you think Mr Cullen asked to see you at lunch?" Angela questioned softly, taking the seat next to Bella.

"Because he's obviously an oppressive bully who feels he has to bring his superiority issues into the classroom."

Angela stayed quiet after that.

By the time two o clock rolled around Bella had spent a productive English class imagining several different scenarios of what she would do to put Mr Cullen in his place. None of which she would have the courage to do of course, because it was just starting to dawn on her. She'd been called back after class!

She wasn't the girl that got called back after class. She never even got told off. She had the perfect attendance record, and handed in every assignment punctually simply to avoid this very situation. Bella's stomach flopped with nerves. Now her first impression with her physics teacher had been well and truly ruined; and with it her references and possibly a bias against her grades.

Bella knocked on Mr Cullen's office door softly. Perhaps he wouldn't hear and she could claim that he hadn't been in when she'd called?

"Come in."

He had exceptionally good hearing. Although it was probably lucky that he did, as that pathetically see through excuse definitely wouldn't endear him towards her.

Bella stepped into the room, resolved to keep her head held high and to meet his gaze directly. She didn't want him to know how on edge he'd put her; that would give him the advantage. She would just apologise for whatever she had done to annoy him and be resolve everything before the end of lunch.

"Ahh Miss Swan. Have a seat." He indicated the seat across the desk from his own.

"Mr Cullen I want to apolo-"

He cut her off.

"How did you find todays test?"

She frowned at the man in front of her. He couldn't possibly have called her here to talk about her test paper. He had summoned her to his office before she had even handed it in.

"Some of the questions were… challenging," she answered diplomatically. She doubted her aim of warming this man up to her would be achieved by telling him that his test was incredibly easy and posed no challenge to her whatsoever.

It appeared that she was wrong.

Mr Cullen gave a sigh. "You've become too comfortable."

Bella frowned. "What do you mean?" she blurted out, before adding an awkward "sir."

His eyes flicked up to meet hers, annoyance evident in them.

"The test I set this morning was far above the level expected of your age group. Unsurprisingly most of your peers took it upon themselves to cheat, but _you, _had completed your test within half of the time given."

He was looking at her like she was the biggest disappointment to the school.

"I really don't understand what the problem is, I completed your test. Did I do badly?" Bella questioned.

Honestly, this man was completely impossible. How could he be annoyed that she had completed a test that was above her skill level? Surely a student that showed an aptitude for his or her subject was what every teacher wanted.

"That's part of the problem," Mr Cullen continued his disapproving look traded for one of exasperation. "You were perfectly content to waste half of your time daydreaming. You could have handed in your test and gotten on with something else. But your focus is entirely on your grades."

"Well of course it is." Bella jumped out of her chair. "That's what I'm at school for."

"You're at school to _learn_," Mr Cullen stressed. "But you're happy know only what the syllabus dictates you have to know. Despite your natural academic ability you're lazy and see learning merely as a way to get into an Ivy."

"Now you're just assuming things," Bella snapped.

She would never normally dream of talking to a teacher like this, but the accusation was incredibly offensive. Bella wasn't lazy, if he wanted lazy he should look at Jessica's pathetic attempt at the last assigned history essay. It had been ten words long.

She on the other hand stayed in her small apartment, denying every request that she join her friends at the bar, working as hard as she possibly could. He was being incredibly unfair, and talking about her as if she was another student who needed a kick up the arse as motivation.

"Am I wrong?"

Bella hesitated. Some lies were just too obvious.

Mr Cullen continued triumphantly. "The school system is set up against students like you. Curiosity and a wish to learn for learning's sake are characteristics that are seen as unnecessary and aren't picked up on. You are the result of the inherent flaw in the examination system."

Bella blushed. What girl didn't like being called a flaw by a handsome older man?

"The way you handled the test tells me far more about you than the grade could possibly do alone."

She folded her arms and looked away from him, every bit like the petulant child he probably assumed that she was. Her obvious irritated demeanour seemed to please this sadist.

"What the score_ did _tell me however, is that you are ahead of your peers. Your laziness and complete disregard for furthering your education don't change the fact that there is absolutely no point in you staying in that class. A change of schedule is in order I think."

"You can't just do that," Bella hissed at him.

He beamed at her. "I think you will find that I can indeed do that."

And she fully believed him.

Because with a smile like that, it would be impossible for anyone to resist anything that this man wanted.

She was still gawping at him when he handed her a piece of paper.

"I'll see you tomorrow at half past six."

Her mouth snapped shut.

"_What_?"

"Oh, so you don't usually begin your morning with first order differential equations?" Mr Cullen smirked, maliciously.

Half past six. She was a senior, she wasn't even meant to be aware that times like that existed.

"And don't think you'll be able to snooze through either. These classes are one on one."

Bella resisted the urge to bang her head on his desk.

It was going to be a long year.


	2. Chapter 2

The Teacher and His Student

**Chapter 2 - The Importance of Suitable Clothing**

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Bella very ungracefully tugged her skirt down. It was a lesson that she would learn from; one should never put on the first thing one pulled out of a closet. Just another thing she could silently hate Mr Cullen for. She had woken at five thirty, and with her eyes barely open had stumbled out of bed and pulled on a skirt that reached mid thigh on her. It had been an impulse buy. The result of a day of shopping with Jessica, which of course came coupled with peer pressure to buy the scandalously revealing item. Bella had ended up buying the skirt merely to get her to shut up. But although the skirt was flowery, a rather childish design in Bella's opinion, the cut and length meant that it was unmistakably adult, something that made her uncomfortable.

At least nobody was here to see her. Yet. Once small justice of the early morning.

Bella felt her anger grow more with every second that passed. She had absolutely no use for advanced physics or advanced maths; they would not help her with her finals. She had devoted the past two years to ensuring that she knew the outline of the exam backwards. Bella would just have to grit her teeth and get through it as best as she could. It was obvious that Mr Cullen had a flair for irritating her as much as humanly possible and viewed any amount of suffering on her part as a success, she just had to find a way to counter this tactic.

Usually it would be by sucking up as much as possible, it worked with every other teacher in Allen Poe. Her perfect scores impressed them all and most of them were happy to send her off mid class to do as she pleased, perhaps because they had no new material to teach her. She was always careful to leave the class respectfully however, these were the teachers that would be writing her recommendations; it wouldn't do to alienate them. Mr Cullen had already been written off as a lost cause on that front, they had had exactly one conversation and already he had decided that she was lazy and motivated by the wrong reasons. Bella was certain that any evaluation written by this man would certainly undo her years of hard work, and she had no intentions of asking for such a letter.

She guessed that Mr Cullen wanted her to meet him in his office, and so she made her way over hoping that the very least she could do was be punctual. She knocked on the door and made her way in.

There was obviously no justice in the world. Mr Cullen looked like he'd just stepped off of the runway. Where as Bella's eyes were red and puffy, his were the same intense grey as they had been yesterday. His perfectly sculpted hair juxtaposed Bella's ratty mess completely, and _he _didn't look like he'd pulled on the first thing he'd gotten his hands on. Irrationally Bella felt a surge of hatred towards this man; it was like he didn't even _need _sleep, hell he was practically sparkling.

He smiled when he saw her, not a sincere 'good morning' smile, more of the smile somebody would give when they knew something the other person didn't; something that was going to cost the other person a little bit of dignity. Brilliant.

"Nice skirt," he quipped.

Bella blushed and self-consciously began to tug the hem down once again.

He proceeded to remove his suit jacket and roll the sleeves of his shirt up.

"Todays lesson will take place outside," he informed her. "You're looking at a physics degree, right?"

Bella nodded in agreement, pointedly looking away from his well-defined lower arm.

"Then I thought it might be beneficial for you to partake in some hands on experience."

Her eyes flicked up to meet his. Practical work? Of course, he was a new teacher. He didn't yet know the extent of her incoordination.

"Something wrong?" The horror must have been reflected in her eyes.

"I'm not too good with practicals," she admitted.

This seemed to bring him great joy.

"Out we go," Mr Cullen beamed.

They crossed the school, and Bella was glad that she hadn't a clue where they were going. It meant that she could safely trail behind Mr Cullen, which in turn meant that there would be no accidental pantie flashes. This relief was short lived however, as Bella noticed where they'd stopped.

"Automotive?" She scowled. "You've bought me to the automotive department."

"This." He proudly indicated a hunk of metal on the floor, "Is your new assignment."

"You want me to take it to the scrap heap?" Bella retorted.

Mr Cullen looked offended. "You're going to repair it." He said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. The way he looked at her made it clear that he thought he was the bringer of great news.

Bella felt she should clarify, it wouldn't do to let him carry on with the naïve belief that she had any interest whatsoever in motorcycle repair.

"You drag me out of bed at five thirty in the morning to make me do this?" She hissed. "I thought what you actually had to show me would be of some use, but this won't help me at all. You think that Harvard will be impressed by my restoration work of a relic from the Stone Age? I'm surprised the wheel had even been invented when this was created." She nudged it with her foot, and was unsurprised when a metal part disconnected from the main body and hit the floor with a clang.

Mr Cullen regarded her thoughtfully. "I recommend not kicking it again, it's counter productive."

"Are you even listening to me?" Bella sighed.

"I tend to tune out idiocy," he admitted happily.

She almost kicked the damn thing again out of anger. Honestly, he was so infuriating. Any other teacher would have thrown her in detention for talking to them like that, but Mr Cullen seemed to enjoy getting her angry, more than that he seemed to relish it.

He seemed to be the type of man who would scold somebody for doing well superficially, but praise somebody who did badly but managed to learn some type of deep lesson. He seemed to want to convince her that grades weren't everything, in a world in which they were; they were her currency, the key to her getting into the best possible college and ultimately the key to her future. That was just the way things were, and Bella wasn't going to be fooled by the ideals of a green newbie. Maybe it wasn't ideal, maybe it wasn't fair, but that was how it was.

"I'd stand it up first," Mr Cullen prompted, taking a seat on a tool box and pulling out his battered copy of Wuthering Heights.

Bella merely scowled at him (which of course made him smile) before considering the conundrum that faced her – how the hell was she meant to bend down and lift the considerable weight in a skirt this short?

It was next to a wall, which meant there was no chance of facing her teacher while she propped it up. Any move she made would only be possible while her ass was facinghim directly. She wished she had put on some underwear that could at least be considered sexy, granny panties, although practical, weren't what she wanted her ass of a physics teacher to see.

"Problem?" Mr Cullen asked, far too innocently for Bella to be entirely convinced that he was unaware of exactly what was making her hesitate.

"None," she replied through gritted teeth.

He hummed and continued to stare at her over his book.

"Where did you get this from anyway?" Bella frowned.

Mr Cullen's eyes sparkled. "You realise that stalling by asking me questions that attempt to capture my interest is a futile endeavour. You can still talk whilst working."

"And _you_ realise that trying to make me uneasy with amateur psychoanalysis is a futile endeavour."

Once again she was addressing him in a way that most teachers would consider incredibly rude, and once again she didn't care.

"Oh, I doubt that," Mr Cullen mused, tapping the spine of his book against his chin. "I expect it makes you deeply uneasy. It appears that every teacher in this school is sucked in by that perfect student façade; to have it finally lifted must be most alarming."

Bella sucked in a deep breath, reminding herself that punching this man would do nothing to warm her to him. Talking to him was obviously counter productive.

He appeared to genuinely to put no stock in grades, his focus purely on method and product.

Well if that was what he wanted, then that's what he'd get.

Bella crouched down with as much dignity as she could muster (which was very little) and grabbed the hunk of metal by the seat. The chuckle that she heard from behind her led her to hypothesise that her panties were on show. This was confirmed when Mr Cullen stated without a hint of embarrassment:

"Nice panties."

"Pervert," Bella hissed, bracing the weight of the motorcycle against her leg as she slowly tipped it upright.

Mr Cullen ignored her, and Bella ignored his ignoring of her, willing her obvious blush to go away. Still, she couldn't help the blush that spread across her cheeks as she noticed the sparkle in his eyes. He was winding her up again.

Something inside of her snapped. Perhaps it was his frequent mockery of the goody two shoes image he had of her, perhaps she simply wanted to see that sparkle in his eyes again. But good girls didn't do what Bella did next.

Dragging her eyes away from his slowly, Bella turned to the motorcycle so that her ass was once again facing towards Mr Cullen. Then, with as much grace as she could muster, she slowly bent down under the pretence of tying her shoelace, keeping her legs perfectly straight. She felt the drag of fabric across the back of her thigh, and the brush of cool wind, and the silence; all of which were indicative that once again her panties were on show.

She took her time, deliberately slowing down her every movement. Undoing one shoelace and doing it back up again, before repeating with the other. At all times keeping her rear end pointed unmistakably towards him.

Then, when she ran out of shoelaces she straightened out her sock before dragging her hands up her leg, returning to an upright position as if it was the hardest thing in the world

Bella snapped her eyes to his in anticipation, surely he was outraged, or shocked, or embarrassed - and most definitely uncomfortable.

She couldn't help but feel she'd failed somewhat when it turned out that Mr Cullen had simply returned to reading his book. He wasn't taking a blind bit of notice of her.

Resigned and embarrassed, she simply sighed. "Now what?"

"Use your initiative, you think Harvard wants those who have been spoon-fed? What do you think is wrong with it?"

Bella furrowed her brow. "The colour." She concluded.

"Cute," Mr Cullen deadpanned, without taking his eyes off of his book. "But your time wasting just cost you five marks."

Five marks? She was down to 95% now and time was ticking away. It was already a quarter past seven. She had forty five minutes to impress him or else her mark would drop even lower, and that was unacceptable.

Bella scowled at him. How she was meant to boost her grade when he wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to her? With a smirk she bought her first down on the motorcycles horn.

Much like her attempt to unsettle him with her ass, she didn't get the desired effect. He didn't jump up in a comic way, or fall of the toolbox he was perched on, Mr Cullen's eyes simply flickered up to meet hers and when he saw her doing nothing of interest they flicked straight back down to Wuthering Heights again. Bella scowled, even the horn was underwhelming, giving a diluted, pathetically weak sound. It truly was a piece of junk-

The horn…

Slowly the cogs in Bella's brain started to turn, the horn was giving a weak sound. She flicked a few switches on the bike in search of the lights. Her trial and error method paid off when the bulbs spluttered into life, dim and unworthy of their function. Bella smiled in triumph - the dud horn and inadequate lights could be accounted for by the battery.

With a feeling of superiority at finally identifying something that could impress her teacher, Bella folded her arms and tapped her foot impatiently at where he was sat.

"Excuse me," she said, haughtily.

Mr Cullen sighed, and dragged himself off of the toolbox as if it was the most inconvenient thing anyone had asked him to do ever, which quite frankly gave Bella a little satisfaction.

"Couldn't spring for anything from this century then," Bella muttered as she rummaged through the box to find what she was looking for.

Despite the age of the equipment nevertheless, the screwdriver she had found did its job perfectly well, and soon Bella had removed the motorcycles seat and battery cover.

Mr Cullen hovered over her, Wuthering Heights finally closed. He stretched out his arm and placed it on the wall that the bike was leaning against, mere centimetres from her right cheek.

Bella gulped. His arm was perfect, muscly, but not obscenely so. And his hands were undoubtedly strong, but more than that, they seemed capable. They were hands that could solve an equation, craft a classic piece or literature and hands that could easily reach out and-

She scowled at herself, she was being pathetic drooling over a hand. She willed herself to concentrate and began to pull out one of the battery cables when the very hand that she had been admiring snapped out to encase her own.

Bella stepped back in an effort to pull her hand away only to find that this simply pushed her back into his, firm, chest. His hand remained over hers.

"You were about to pull out the positive lead first." He muttered, somewhere close to her ear. "Wouldn't want that pretty skin of yours to be fried, would we?"

He let go of her hand and stepped back. Picking the screwdriver up off the floor where she had left it and returning it to the toolbox.

"You'd better be on your way, wouldn't want to blot that perfect attendance record." He mocked.

Bella glanced at her watch. Quarter to eight! If she wanted to make registration before morning assembly she'd have to run. And running increased the probability that herself and/or somebody else would be injured by about 120%

"Not bad for a first class," Mr Cullen added. "You just scraped a C."

"What?" Bella screamed. "But I was on 95%"

"You went immediately for the battery without even checking if the motorcycle would run first, that sort of time wasting docked you ten points." Mr Cullen shrugged. "Also, nearly killing yourself lowers your score by fifteen."

"Oh, I suppose you had to penalise to counter the increasing want of students to escape your company." Bella snapped.

"You just lost five more points," Mr Cullen said happily.

"What for?" asked Bella open mouthed.

"For suggesting my personality drives people to suicide when in fact I'm the epitome of charming."

Bella didn't trust herself to say anything.

Mr Cullen's smile simply widened. "There you go," he said, ruffling her hair. "You're learning."


End file.
